Kerala has reported a Rs 1,000 crore drop in antibiotic sales over the past year. According to reports, of the Rs 15,000 crore annual sale of the medicine in the state, antibiotics accounted for Rs 4,500 crore. The government enforced stringent regulations which led to a decline in the sale of antibiotics by Rs 1,000 crore.

There are several infectious diseases that have been increasing due to antimicrobial resistance which is caused due to the overuse of antibiotics. The health department of the state also revoked the licences of several drug stores that were selling antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription. According to a report in Onmanorama, authorities also instructed medical organisations, such as the Indian Medical Association, to exercise caution when prescribing antibiotics to patients.

The All Kerala Chemist and Druggist Association says that the decline in antibiotic sales was majorly due to government interventions and a reduction in doctors prescribing antibiotics.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) happens when germs develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them, says the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These are usually antibiotic drugs that are prescribed. AMR has the ability to affect people at any stage in their lives, along with the healthcare, veterinary and agriculture industries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that AMR is one of the world’s most urgent health problems. It has directly led to the death of nearly 1.27 million people and contributed to the death of 4.95 million worldwide in 2019.

Antimicrobial resistance is a natural process but the process is caused by a combination of germs exposed to antibiotics and antifungals and the spread of those germs and their resistance mechanisms.

The use of antibiotics also affects antimicrobial resistance. The CDC says that these medicines kill some germs that cause infections, but they also kill helpful germs that protect our bodies from infection. Antimicrobial resistance accelerates when antibiotics and antifungals pressure bacteria and fungi to adapt. The antimicrobial-resistant germs survive, multiply and spread to other germs. These surviving germs have resistance traits in their DNA that can spread to other germs.

It is not possible to completely eliminate antimicrobial resistance, as microbes will always be able to modify themselves and adapt to their environment. However, here are some ways to limit the exposure and these ways include:

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